Friday, February 21, 2014

I attended a panel on political best practices this
afternoon at the Liberal Party of Canada 2014 biennial in Montreal, and one of
the speakers was Chima Nkemdirim, chief of staff to Calgary Mayor Naheed
Nenshi.

Describing himself to cheers as a Calgary Liberal, which isn’t
always an easy thing to be (I speak from experience as a Liberal BCer), Nkemdirim
shared best practices, tips and lessons from Nenshi’s two successful campaigns
for mayor – the first of which began with the candidate literally polling at 0 –
including these five keys to political success.

All Politics is Local

Most people don’t know what level of government does what.
They care about issues. If you want to run, you must spend timing learning what
people care about locally, and tailor what you want to talk about in your
campaign to the issues people actually care about in your community.

Networking is more powerful
then door knocking

While Nkemdirim isn’t saying don’t door knock, he says it’s
an incredibly inefficient way to reach people. While everyone thinks Nenshi
tweeted his way to victory, at its centre he says Nenshi’s first campaign was
built on word of mouth. It was designed around getting people to talk to their
friends and neighbours and explain why they’re supporting Nenshi. They trained
our volunteers to talk about Nenshi. They found out that people are really nervous
to talk about politics, and they need help. Their advice was to identify why
you’re passionate about a candidate, and if you’re passionate for that reason
your friends might be as well – you don’t need to know the whole platform.
Coffee parties were a key part of the Nenshi campaigns. If your friend invites
you to a coffee party to meet the candidate, you’re more likely to actually
come.

The more data the
better

You really need to have all the information about your
constituency, said Nkemdirim. Understand what happened in past federal,
provincial and municipal elections. What are the key issues in the area? What
keeps people up at night? Understanding those issues will help you build your
platform. Do a lot of research on the incumbent. Read everything they’ve ever
written and said, understand why their values aren’t in line with the community’s,
and why your candidate is better.

The candidate does matter

Even in a party system where conventional wisdom says 80 per
cent of people vote for the leader, Nkemdirim said he really believes the
candidate does matter. There are three Alberta Liberal MLAs, and he said he believes
each got elected because they were the best candidate. The campaign should be approached
like a job interview.

You’ve got to stand
for something

Nenshi and Edmonton Mayor Don Inveson talk about politics in
full sentence – a phrase Nkemdirim said they borrowed from The West Wing.
People aren’t stupid. They want you to get into detail about why you’re
running, what you’re about, and why you’re the best candidate. They want to
trust you’re the best candidate for the community; trust them with detailed
answers.